APPENDICES

Acadians Who Found Refuge in Louisiana, February 1764-early 1800s

DAROIS

[dah-RWAH]

ACADIA

Jérôme Darois, born in Paris in c1670, arrived in Acadia by 1698, the year he married Marie, daughter of Dominique Gareau and Marie Gaudet, and widow of ____ Lachapelle, at Port-Royal.  They moved to the Minas Basin.  In 1706, during Queen Anne's War, the British held Jérôme as a prisoner in Boston, Massachusetts.  After the war, he returned to his home at Minas.  The couple and their children moved to Petitcoudiac, probably to put even more distance between themselves and the British authorities at Annapolis Royal.  Jérôme and Marie had 10 children, half of them sons.  Their five daughters married into the Trahan, Breau, Gaudet, Saulnier, and Pitre families.  Jérôme, père died at Petitcoudiac in c1750, age 80.  

Oldest son Jean, born at Port-Royal in c1700, married Marguerite, daughter of Antoine Breau and Marguerite Babin, in c1722.  They settled at Petitcoudiac, escaped the British roundup in the trois-rivières in the fall of 1755, and sought refuge in Canada.  Jean died at Québec in December 1757, age 57, victim, perhaps, of a smallpox epidemic. 

Pierre-Jérôme, born probabay at Port-Royal in c1701, evidently did not marry.  He, too, escaped the British roundup in Nova Scotia in the fall of 1755 and sought refuge in Canada.  He died at Hôtel-Dieu, Québec, in September 1757, age 56, a victim, perhaps, of the smallpox epidemic that killed his older brother. 

Étienne, born at Port-Royal in c1703, married Anne Breau, sister of older brother Jean's wife Marguerite, in c1725, and settled probably at Minas.  

Paul, born in Boston, Massachusetts, in February 1706 while his father was being held prisoner by the English, never married.  

Youngest son Joseph, born at Grand-Pré in October 1711, also never married.  

Acadian genealogist Bona Arsenault insists that Jérôme and Marie also had a son named Simon, born in c1725 probably at Petitcoudiac, who married Anne Thibodeau in c1746.  According to Arsenault, Simon remarried to Jeanne, daughter of Jean-Baptiste Leduc, in c1760.  

[For more of this family in pre- and post-dispersal Acadia and Canada, see Book Three]

In 1755, Jérôme Darois's descendants could be found at Minas, Petitcoudiac, and on Île St.-Jean, today's Prince Edward Island. 

LE GRAND DÉRANGEMENT

[For the family's travails in the Great Upheaval, see Book Six]

LOUISIANA:  WESTERN SETTLEMENTS

Isabelle Darois, oldest daughter of Jérôme and Marie, and Isabelle's second husband, Sylvain Breau, followed the Broussard party to the lower Mississippi Valley via St.-Domingue, today's Haiti.  They reached New Orleans in February 1765 and followed the Broussard party across the Atchafalaya Basin to the Attakapas District, where they helped establish La Nouvelle-Acadie on the banks of Bayou Teche.  Isabelle was age 66 when she reached New Orleans; Sylvain was 52.  They lasted only six months on the Teche.  In October 1765, Isabelle and Sylvain died two days apart, victims of an epidemic that killed dozens of their fellow Acadians that spring, summer, and fall.  Isabelle and Sylvain were buried au dernier camp d'en bas (at the camp lower down), near present-day Loreauville.  

Pierre Darois, age 28, and wife Marie Bourgeois, age 30, also came to Louisiana from Halifax with the Broussard party.  Marie was very pregnant when they reached New Orleans in February 1765.  Later that month, son Michel was born in the city and baptized there on the same day.  Before they followed the Broussards to the Bayou Teche valley in April, Pierre and Marie sanctified their marriage in front of a New Orleans priest, evidently having had no opportunity to do so until they reached the Catholic city.  Spanish officials counted Pierre and Marie still on the Teche in April 1766.  Son Michel was not with them, however, so he, too, probably had died in the epidemic of 1765. 

LOUISIANA:  RIVER SETTLEMENTS

Pierre Darois and wife Marie Bourgeois did not remain on Bayou Teche but moved to Cabanocé/St.-Jacques, on the river above New Orleans, in c1770.  Spanish officials counted Pierre, now age 40, and Marie, now 42, with other Acadians on the right, or west, bank of the river at St.-Jacques in January 1777.  Evidently after the death of son Michel, they had no more children in Louisiana.

LOUISIANA:  LAFOURCHE VALLEY SETTLEMENTS

The last of the Acadian Daroiss to come to Louisiana arrived 20 years after their cousins had reached the colony.  Étienne Darois, fils, age 47, wife Madeleine Trahan, age 45, and their four remaining daughters--Élisabeth, age 24, Marie-Madeleine, age 18, Susanne, age 13, and Marie-Élisabeth, age 8--sailed aboard Le St.-Rémi, the fourth of the Seven Ships from France, which reached New Orleans in September 1785.  After a brief recuperating period in the city, they followed their fellow passengers to upper Bayou Lafourche.  Étienne and Madeleine had no more children in Louisiana.  They moved down bayou to what became Lafourche Interior Parish, where Étienne died in November 1833, a widower; the priest who recorded his burial said that Étienne was age 106 when he died.  He was 95.  Strangely, daughter Marie-Madeleine died on the same day her father died, also in Lafourche Interior Parish, age 65.

All of his daughters married, one of them twice, and helped create their own families on Bayou Lafourche: 

Étienne's oldest daughter Élisabeth married François, son of fellow Acadians Honoré Duhon and Anne-Marie Vincent and widower of Élisabeth Landry, at Lafourche in April 1786.  François was a native of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, and had come to Louisiana from a prison compound there in 1765.  He died soon after the marriage.  

Étienne's youngest daughter Marie-Élisabeth, called Babet and sometimes Élisabeth, at age 14, married cousin Joseph-Marie, son of fellow Acadians Jean-Charles Boudreaux and his first wife Agnès Trahan, at Lafourche in May 1791.  Jean-Charles was a native of Port St.-Hubert near Plouër-sur-Rance, Brittany, France, and also had come to Louisiana in 1785.  He also died not long after the marriage.  She remarried to Jean-Marie, son of fellow Acadians Grégoire Benoit and Marie-Rose Carret, in November 1799.  Jean-Marie was a native of St.-Servan-sur-Mer near St.-Malo, France, and also had come to Louisiana on Le St.-Rémi. 

Daughter Susanne married Fabien-Isaac, son of fellow Acadians Joseph Aucoin and his first wife Marie-Josèphe Hébert and brother of sister Marie-Madeleine's husband Mathurin, at Assumption in April 1799.  Fabien was a native of Tréméreuc, Brittany, France, and also had come to Louisiana in 1785. 

In November 1799, daughter Marie-Madeleine married Mathurin-Jean, another son of Joseph Aucoin and his first wife Marie-Josèphe Hébert and native of Tréméreuc, on the same day and at the same place youngest sister Marie-Élisabeth remarried to Jean-Marie Benoit. 

CONCLUSION

Pierre Darois's only son Michel died young.  Étienne Darois, fils brought no sons to Louisiana, and he fathered none after he got there.  As a result, the Acadian branch of this family, except for its blood, did not take root in the Bayou State.  The Daroiss of South Louisiana today are descendants of French Creoles or Foreign French, not Acadians.  The Acadian family should not be confused with the Duroys of Terrebonne Parish, who were Foreign French.  [See also Book Ten]

In Louisiana, the family's name also is spelled Daroy, d'Aroy, Darrois, Darouet, Darouette, Deroy.

Sources:  Arsenault, Généalogie, 1150-51, 1558-59; BRDR, vols. 1a(rev.), 2; Hébert,  D., Acadians in Exile, 99, 571-72, 578-79; Hébert, South LA Records, vol. 1; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, vol. 1-A; <islandregister.com/1752.html>; NOAR, vol. 2; <perso.orange.fr/froux/St_malo_arrivees/Duc_Guillaume.htm>, Family No. 41; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 30; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 50; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 125; White, DGFA-1, 469-71, 1558-59.  

Settlement Abbreviations 
(present-day civil parishes that existed in 1861 are in parenthesis; hyperlinks on the abbreviations take you to brief histories of each settlement):

For a chronology of Acadian Arrivals in Louisiana, 1764-early 1800s, see Appendix.

The hyperlink attached to an individual's name is connected to a list of Acadian immigrants for a particular settlement and provides a different perspective on the refugee's place in family and community. 

NOTES

01.  Wall of Names, 13 (pl. 2L), calls her Isabelle DAROIS, & lists her with her second husband; Arsenault, Généalogie, 2438, Sylvain BREAUX's profile in the Louisiana section, calls her Isabelle DAROIS, gives her parents' names, & says her first husband was René RICHARD; White, DGFA-1, 469-70, calls her Isabelle (Élisabeth) DAROIS, gives her parents' names, details her first marriage, calls her first husband René TRAHAN, son of Jean-Charles [TRAHAN] & Marie BOUDROT, details her second marriage, including her second husband's parents' names, says she & her second husband obtained "disp 3-3 [aff],", & details her death/burial, saying "inh dernier camp d'en bas (acte inscrit 12 oct 1765)"; BRDR, 1a(rev.):57, 195-96, the record of her first marriage, calls her Élisabet DAROIS, gives her parents' names, calls her husband René TRAHAN, son of Jean TRAHAN & Marie BOUDROT, & says the witnesses to her marriage were Pierre TÉRRIOT, who signed, Jean TRAHAN, who signed, ____ DINGLE, who signed, René BLANCHARD, who made his x, Jeune Jean LEBLANC, who signed, & René TRAHAN (probably the groom), who made his x, with the note "most of entry missing, ... text is from 1895 transcription"; Hébert, D., Southwest LA Records, 1-A:216 (SM Ch.: v.1, p.13; SM Ch.: Slave Funeral Register v.1, #25), her death/burial record, calls her Isabelle DAROY, does not give her parent' names or her husband's name, says in one record that she was buried 10 Oct 1765 & the burial was recorded 12 Oct 1765, & in the other record that she died 10 Oct 1765 & was buried 12 Oct 1765.  

She died 2 days before her husband died, & they were buried the same day, perhaps together.  She was one of the oldest Acadians to emigrate to LA.  

02.  Wall of Names, 37 (pl. 9R), calls her Élizabet [DAROIR], & lists her with her parents & 3 sisters; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 30, Family No. 61, calls her Élisabeth DARROIS, says she was godmother to her sister Rose, baptized 1 Aug 1775, Pouthume, Châtellerault, & details her family's participation in the Leigne-les-bois settlement in Poitou in the early 1770s; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 50, Family No. 97, calls her Élizabeth [DARROIS], & details her family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s as well as its voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 52-53, calls her Élizabet, sa [Étiene DAROIS's] fille, age 24, on the embarkation list, & Élizabeth DARROIS, his [Étienne DARROIS's] daughter, age 24, on the complete listing, & says she was in the 40th Family aboard Le St.-Rémi with her parents & 3 sisters; BRDR, 2:223, 263 (ASC-2, 1), her marriage record, calls her Isabelle DAROIS, does not give her or her husband's parents' names, & says the witnesses to her marriage were Esteban DAROIS (her father) & Abraham SANCHES.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 31, 163; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 503.

She should not be confused with her younger sister Marie-Élisabeth/Isabelle, who was sometimes called Élisabeth/Isabelle.  

What happened to her husband?  It was typical of the priest at Ascension in the late 1780s not to list parents' names in marriage records, so we can only assume that the François DUHON who married Élisabeth DAROIS was the same François, son of Honoré DUHON & Anne-Marie VINCENT, who married Élisabeth/Isabelle, daughter of Abraham LANDRY dit Petit Abram & his second wife Marguerite FLAN at Ascension in Nov 1772.  This researcher knows of no other Acadian François DUHON who emigrated to LA.  

Why was she back with her parents in Jan 1788 if her husband did not die until Nov 1789?  Were they estranged?  

03.  Wall of Names, 37 (pl. 9R), calls her Élizabet [DAROIR], & lists her with her parents & 3 sisters; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 50, Family No. 97, her birth/baptismal record, calls her Marie-Élizabeth DARROIS, does not give her godparents' names, &, calling her Élizabeth, details her family's voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 52-53, calls her Élizabet, sa [Étiene DAROIS's] fille, age 8, on the embarkation list, & Élizabeth DARROIS, his [Étienne DARROIS's] daughter, age 8, on the complete listing, says she was in the 40th Family aboard Le St.-Rémi with her parents & 3 sisters, &, calling her Marie-Élizabeth, says she was baptized in 1776 but does not give the place of baptism; BRDR, 2:113 (ASC-2, 39), the record of her first marriage, calls her Maria Isabel DOIRON[sic], calls her husband Joseph Maria [BOUDREAUX], does not give any parents' names, & says the witnesses to her marriage were Yvon CROCHET & Alexo LEJEUNE; BRDR, 2:72, 223 (ASM-2, 45), the record of her second marriage, calls her Ysabel DAROIS of Nantes in Britany, France, says her husband was from St.-Malo, France, gives her & his parents' names, says her husband's parents were "of Acadia," & that the witnesses to her marriage were Pierre HÉBERT & Francois AUCOIN.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 31, 66, 104, 120, 163; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 503.

She was only 14 when she first married!  There was no Marie-Isabelle DOIRON, so this must be her.  But why did Spanish census takers list her with her parents & siblings in the Lafourche valley censuses of 1795, 1797, & 1798, after she was married?  Did her first husband die within a few years of their wedding?  In none of these census entries is she called a widow.  And why was her first husband not mentioned in the record of her second marriage?  However, the baptismal record of Margarita Eugenia BOUDREAUX at Assumption, dated 21 Aug 1796, in BRDR, 2:115 (ASM-1, 73), calls the girl's father Josef Maria [BOUDREAUX] & the mother Maria Isabel DAROIS, daughter of Estevan DAROIT & Magdelena TRAHAN, so this was her.  Was Marguerite-Eugènie born posthumously?  Is so, where was she in Apr 1797, when her mother was counted with her parents again?  Had Marguerite-Eugènie BOUDREAUX died by then? 

Marie-Élisabeth/Isabelle should not be confused with her older sister, Élisabeth/Isabelle.  

04.  Wall of Names, 37 (pl. 9R), calls him Étiene DAROIR, & lists him with his wife & 4 daughters; Robichaux, Acadians in Châtellerault, 30, Family No. 61, calls him Étienne DARROIS, says he was born in c1738 but gives no birthplace, does not give his parents' names, details his marriage but does not give his wife's parents' names, says they were married in c1759 but gives no place of marriage, includes the birth/baptismal & death/burial records of daughter Rose, baptized 1 Aug 1775, Pouthume, Châtellerault, goddaughter of Pierre TÉRIOT & Élisabeth DARROIS, her sister, died age 5 weeks & buried 5 Sep 1775, Pouthume, & details the family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 50, Family No. 97, calls him Étienne DARROIS, says he was born in c1738 but gives no birthplace, does not give his parents' names, details his marriage, says they were married in c1759 but gives no place of marriage, does not give his wife's parents' names, includes the birth/baptismal & death/burial records of daughter Marie-Élizabeth, baptized 17 Sep 1776, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, son Joseph-Étienne, baptized 20 Sep 1780, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, died age 1 & buried 10 Sep 1781, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, & son Jacques-Étienne, baptized 29 Mar 1783, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, died age 11 months & buried 13 Feb 1784, St.-Martin-de-Chantenay, details the family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s as well as its voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 52-53, calls him Étiene DAROIS, tanneur, age 47, on the embarkation list, & Étienne DARROIS, tanner, age 47, on the complete listing, says he was in the 40th Family aboard Le St.-Rémi with his wife & 4 daughters, details his marriage but does not give his or his wife's parents' names, says they were married in c1759 but gives no place of marriage, & says daughter Marie-Élizabeth was baptized in 1776 but gives no place of baptism; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 1:173 (Thib.Ch.: v. 1, #603), his death/burial record, calls him Étienne DAROIS, "born in Accadie, in France," does not give his parents' names or his wife's name, & says he died "at age 106 yrs."  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1770-98, 31, 66, 104, 120, 163; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 503.

The baptismal records of 5 of his children place him in St.-Martin Parish, Morlaix, France, in 1766-73.  See Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 99. 

He was "only" 95 when he died.  Is it possible that he died on the same day as his daughter Marie-Madeleine?  How?  His wife had died in Sep 1830. 

05.  Wall of Names, 37 (pl. 9R), calls her Marie [DAROIR], & lists her with her parents & 3 daughters; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 99, her birth/baptismal record, calls her Marie-Magdelaine DARROIS, & gives her parents' but not her godparents' names; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 50, Family No. 97, calls her Marie [DARROIS], & details her family's participation in the Poitou settlement of the early 1770s as well as their voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 52-53, calls her Marie, sa [Étiene DAROIS's] fille, age 18, on the embarkation list, & Marie DARROIS, his [Étienne DARROIS's] daughter, age 18, on the complete listing, & says she was in the 40th Family aboard Le St.-Rémi with her parents & 3 sisters; BRDR, 2:38, 223 (ASM-2, 44), her marriage record, calls her Maria Magdalena DAROIS of Marlaix in Britany, gives her & her husband's parents' names, & says the witnesses to her marriage were Pierre HÉBERT & François AUCOIN; Hébert, D., South LA Records, 1:173 (Thib.Ch.: v. 1, #604), her death/burial record, calls her Marie Madeleine [DAROIS], gives her parents' names, & says she died "at age 68 yrs."  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1777-98, 31, 66, 104, 120, 163; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 503.

Why did she wait so late to marry?  Is it possible that she died on the same day as her father?  How?

She was age 66 when she died. 

06.  Wall of Names, 15 (pl. 2R), calls him Michel [DAROIS], & lists him with his parents & no siblings; NOAR, 2:66 (SLC, B5, 82), his birth/burial record, calls him Michel DAROY, gives his parents' names, & says his godparents were Michel BOURGOIS & Marie-Joseph GIRLOIS.    

The Attakapas census of 1766, taken in Apr, lists no children in the household of his parents.  See Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 125.  He likely, then, was one of the victims of the epidemic along the Teche that killed dozens of Acadians in the BROUSSARD party during the summer and fall of 1765.

07.  Wall of Names, 15 (pl. 2R), calls him Pierre DAROIS, & lists him with his wife & son Michel; NOAR, 2:31, 66 (SLC, B5, 185, M2, 16), calls him Pierre DAROY, "native of Pelaudiaque in Acadia," calls his wife Marie BOURGEOIS, "native of Beaubassin in Acadia," gives his & he parents' names, but gives no witnesses to his marriage; BRDR, 2:223 (SJA-4, 23), his death/burial record, calls him Pierre DAROIS, age 64 years, husband of Marie BOURGOIS, but does not give his parents' names.  See also De Ville, St. James Census, 1777, 7; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 125.

I am assuming that the "Pelaudiaque" mentioned in his marriage record is Petitcoudiac, where his parents' lived before Le Grand Dérangement. 

His son Michel had been born at New Orleans in late Feb 1765, so his "marriage" at New Orleans in Apr 1765 evidently was a blessing of a marriage that his fellow Acadians already acknowledged.  He & Marie probably took their vows at Halifax before family & friends before the BROUSSARD party had left there in late 1764. 

When did he & his wife move from the Attakapas to the river?  His presence in the Attakapas census of Apr 1766 shows that he did not flee to Cabanocé in the fall of 1765 with the dozens of Attakapas Acadians escaping the Teche epidemic.  The Spanish did not count him at Cabanocé/St.-Jacques in Sep 1769, so he probably had not gone there yet.  See Voorhies, J., 440-85; Bourgeois, Cabanocey, 161-70.  Did he remain in the Attakapas District until the early 1770s?  If so, he was not counted in the Attakapas census of 1771, nor does he appear on the Attakapas militia lists of Jan 1773 & Jun 1774, when he would have been 36 & 37, not too old to have served in the militia, or in the Attakapas census of Oct 1774.  See De Ville, Attakapas Post Census, 1771; Stanley LeBlanc, PDFs; Voorhies, J., 280-82.  So I am giving his move to the river the date of c1770.  

08.  Wall of Names, 37 (pl. 9R), calls her Susanne [DAROIR], & lists her with her parents & 3 sisters; Hébert, D., Acadians in Exile, 99, her birth/baptismal record, calls her Susanne DARROIS, gives her parents' names, & says her godparents were Yves PROUFF & Susanne DESBOIS; Robichaux, Acadians in Nantes, 50, Family No. 97, calls her Suzanne [DARROIS], & details her family's participation in the Leigne-les-bois settlement in Poitou in the early 1770s as well as their voyage to LA in 1785; Hébert, D., Acadian Families in Exile 1785, 52-53, calls her Susanne, sa [Étiene DAROIS's] fille, age 16, on the embarkation list, & Susanne DARROIS, his [Étienne DARROIS's] daughter, age 16, on the complete listing, & says she was in the 40th Family aboard Le St.-Rémi with her parents & 3 sisters; BRDR, 2:34, 223 (ASM-2, 41), her marriage record, calls her Susanna DAROIS, gives her & her husband's parents' names, says her parents were from "Morlais" & his parents were from St.-Malo, & that the witnesses to her marriage were Fabian AUCOIN & Ambroise HÉBERT.  See also Robichaux, Bayou Lafourche, 1777-98, 31, 66, 104, 120, 163; Voorhies, J., Some Late Eighteenth-Century Louisianians, 503.

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